Technical Field
This disclosure is directed to digital circuits, and more particularly, to the design and layout of digital circuitry in various environments, such as part of a printed circuit assembly (PCA) or on an integrated circuit (IC).
Description of the Related Art
In designing digital circuits, one of the steps in finalizing the design is to perform a layout of the desired circuit. Performing a layout of a desired circuit may be automated using computer implemented circuit layout tools. Using such tools, a designer may generate a plan for a physical layout of digital circuit to be implemented on, e.g., an integrated circuit (IC). Generating a layout for a digital circuit may include generating a pattern for a mask for used in manufacturing the IC.
Circuit tools may specify certain design constraints from which the physical layout flows. Such constraints may include, e.g., sub-unit size, sub-unit location, and specific place and route options for components and interconnections, respectively. Beginning with these constraints, a designer using the circuit layout tool may select among the various options to generate a circuit layout plan that conforms to the design constraints. Generally speaking, these circuit layout tools may be layout-driven, i.e., conforming the circuit to the various options presented by the tools to generate a physical layout.